keepin' it real

As cute as Egan is, I thought it only fair to the other babies of the world that I share not only his best photos, but also some outtakes.

One TICKED off kid. He didn't stay that way for long. He was happy again in a matter of seconds, but I couldn't resist the photo!

This is my favorite. Crossed eyes and attitude. awesome.

baby and backyard of my dreams

I know I've said it before, but how cute is this kid? I mean really... I know I'm his mom, and I'm supposed to think he's cute, but how could you not? If you read the post below, you know we went out to see my parents this weekend, and I couldn't resist going photo crazy. Can you blame me?
I love a sleeping baby, and Egan was a champ and let us carry him all over the yard while he slept peacefully in his basket. I had tried a few times over the few days I was there to get some sweet pictures of my sweet boy, but this age is a bit difficult to photograph as his head is still a bit wobbly and well, his eyes are still a bit crossed. I got a few good ones of him awake, but what I really love are the sleeping ones.

weekend fun

Last week was my dad's birthday, and I had some work to do for his company, so we spent the weekend at their house. Egan and I went out on Wednesday, and Blake followed on Friday for a cookout and some fun.
Anyway, Happy Birthday, Dad! We had lots of fun!
Check out the Birthday cake my mom made... yum! And if it is possible, it tasted better than it looks.

My dad also made a fire in their fire pit for us to sit around. I, had to take some pictures because that's what I do.

6 weeks and cuter by the day

Take a look at this kid. Is it just me, or could he be any cuter?
Today Egan turned 6 weeks old. Each day seems to fly by and I love every minute of it. Lately Egan loves to look at lights watches Blake and I with every move we make. He's got so much personality and quite a temper I might add, but hey, who's perfect?
Check out this cute hat Carrie made for Egan. We love it!

just call him "coach"

Check out this "get up". Today Egan dressed in his best coach outfit... complete with football shirt tucked into high waisted shorts. He's even growing a small belly to hang over those shorts. Gotta love it.


Here's the best part. This afternoon I handed Egan to Blake, and realized they were dressed the same. Blake's was much less coachlike, but matching none the less. He was wearing a light blue shirt and navy workout shorts. It was cute. Egan is officially Blake's mini-me. Check out the hand.

Month 1

Dear Egan,
You have passed the one month mark and we couldn't be having more fun. You are a true joy! In this first month you've done lots of things. Well, first, you were born, and I think that is a big enough deal, but here are some other things you've done as well as things you like or don't like.

• Your dad took us to get Frozen yogurt. Yum. That also happened to be my first outing to a real restaurant in a while. I think I may have enjoyed it more than you did. You just slept the whole time.
• We took you on your first "date" to TGI Fridays. Again, you were quite the party animal and slept through the entire meal.
  
• We went on various trips to Target, Walmart, Sam's, and out to eat. Can you tell your mom can't handle being cooped up anymore?
• You went to church for the first time. We sat in the overflow room together.
  
• At your 2 week dr. appointment, you weighed 7lbs 3 oz. Getting big!
• You refuse to sleep in your crib or pack 'n play. You prefer your car seat. We'll have to work on that.
• You've already had a few photo sessions. So far, you don't seem to mind them, but I'm sure that will change in the coming years.
• So far, you totally ignore Bo. He hasn't done the same for you though. At first he wasn't sure what to think and was scared of your cries, but he's getting more used to you now.
  
• You are one loud sleeper! All night long, we hear your grunts. Your dad jokes that you have "Swine Speech". What a funny guy.
• You don't enjoy your bath at all.

We are enjoying every second of you!

Look how he's grown!

Such a silly dad.

Like father, like son.

little man

Check out this sweet little guy getting all clean last night with the help of his dad. I can't say he really likes a bath, but he decided he'd cooperate for a little bit.

Most of the pictures I have look a little more like this:

I've been doing some work around the house today, and thankfully Egan hasn't protested. Instead, he's had some fun in his swing. He happens to be sleeping here, but this morning, he hung out awake for 30 minutes without making a peep! I was thankful for that time to get
some stuff done.

Guess who is a whole 4 weeks old today!

working for the weekend...

Just some pictures from this weekend with Egan. We've been having lots of fun with him for sure. I've even got some pictures of him awake this time!

Happy 3 weeks old, Egan!

Today, Egan turns 3 weeks old. These 3 weeks have flown by for sure and our little guy is getting bigger every day! Egan is a true joy to us and is already showing his personality more and more.
Here's the question of the day. Which of us do you think Egan looks more like? I think it is obvious, but I'll let everyone have their vote. Leave a comment.

Blake:

Whitney:

What's a post without new pictures? / Happy due date, Egan!

April 25... Today is Egan's due date, but he made his debut 18 days ago. He's grown and changed quite a bit since that day. He's a night owl like his dad and doesn't like to go to sleep till after midnight. These days I prefer to be in bed long before that. Also, we are working to convince Egan that he'd really prefer to sleep in his bed rather than his car seat. So far, he's winning.
Ready for some new pictures? Check out this sweet baby.

added...

Here are a few more photos that I didn't add last night. I took some more today, so there will be more to come soon. Just got to get them off the camera first.

photographic proof

Ready for some newish Egan pictures? These were taken a few days ago, but I haven't had a chance to get them on the computer till recently. there were a lot more, but these 2 caught my eye. The first because, how can I resist that face? and the second because bo wanted his picture taken as well, so I humored him this time.

Egan's 1st week

This week has been a crazy one. Staying up late, getting up early, getting up again after that. We have done our best to take as many pictures as possible so that even if you haven't seen him, you can experience a bit of Egan's first week with us. And, you don't have to change a diaper or soothe his crying to do it. Sit back and enjoy these few pictures. I am sure more will be on their way soon, once Whitney has a chance to catch up on some sleep.

Egan Joeb Sawyer

Hey! I just wanted to take a minute to let everyone know that as of 2:46 PM we have become parents! Egan Joeb was born weighing in at 6 lbs. 12 ounces. More will follow, but for now here is a picture to tie you over.

making pretty paintings

Welcome to my in-home painting studio aka the dining room table covered in saran wrap. These are going to go above the crib when I get them done. It has been a work in progress for a few weeks. 4 matching canvases were harder to obtain than I anticipated, but that is another story. I still have a few touch ups to do on the deer and moose, but they are mostly done at this point. Hopefully I can finish them tomorrow and then we can hang them... and by we, you know who I mean. Blake has become very good at hanging things with even spacing and level. You might remember this post. Enjoy the photos. I just got a new camera, and I am in love with it.

Our trip. This is going to be a long one...

We went on a cruise this week. Here are some thoughts and a bunch of pictures from our trip. We had a lot of fun... relaxed a lot... and had a lot of laughs at/with our fellow cruisers.
The overall experience was a blast, and it was nice to trade the cold for a few days for some nice warm sun. We got up REALLY early Saturday morning and drove to Galveston. We arrived early and found a Starbucks to sit and relax before parking the car and getting on the boat. Our room wasn't ready yet when we got on the boat, so we ate some lunch while still in port and explored the ship. By the time our room was ready, we were both pretty tired from getting up so early, so we unpacked and took a nap. Every evening there was a show, and the first night had a bit of a taste of the nights to come. There was a lot of singing, dancing, costume changes, comedy... all incredibly cheesy, but we got a good laugh. There were 10 people at our dinner table that we met on the first night: a couple on their honeymoon, a couple with two little kids, and then a family of four with two daughters that were 17 and 19. The food was good, but a little bland for our liking, but the chocolate cake was AMAZING. It came in a bowl with a crusted top and gooey inside and a little scoop of ice cream. I had it every night.... amazing.
Every night when we got in from dinner, there was a towel animal waiting on our bed, so I took pictures of them every day. Here is the one from the first evening... a seal.

Our second day on the ship was spent at sea. We spent some time exploring the ship some more and also got started on the search for a baby name. We came up with around 35 that we liked, and then cut that list down to 5 by the end of the trip that we both really like. What a job! (On a side note there... the name will remain a secret until the birth, so no point asking! haha.) Also, the second day of the cruise was "formal" night, so we put on our best for dinner and went to the captain's welcome aboard reception.
Blake had the lobster for dinner. This just so happens to be his second try with lobster. (Here's the first... in case you missed it.) This time, it was just the tail pre-prepared, so it went better than his first lobster a year ago.

Day three was at Cozumel, Mexico. We spent the day shopping and being heckled by shop vendors. I got a good laugh from some of the stuff that was said to us. I can't say that it made me want to come in their shop and buy a lot of stuff, but it was funny none the less.


Blake got a goofy balloon hat. When I say he got it... he didn't request it, the guy was just making them for tips. Blake was super happy about this one.


A cute little boy outfit we got while shopping in Cozumel.
Day four: Progresso, Mexico. We spent the day at the beach, so we didn't bring a camera along. It was nice to relax and read some though... in between being asked if we wanted to purchase a shirt, bracelet with our name on it, other beaded jewelery... you name it. The water was cold, but not so much so that we couldn't get in it. Once we decided that we had enough of the beach, we went back to the ship for some lunch and to try out the pool. We were both surprised when we found out that the pool was not only COLD but also salt water. It was fun though. We also tested out the slide a couple of times. It was fun.
Day five: another day at sea. We slept in, had breakfast, and swam some more. Here are some pictures from around the ship.






BINGO! Wow, did those old people take it seriously.
We overheard someone talking about this cake, so we thought we should try it. It was good. We liked it and everything, but it wasn't as good as the guy made it out to be. It was pretty though, so I took a picture.

Proof that it wasn't as good as the guy made it out to be.

Our last morning, we were supposed to be getting off the ship at about 8:15 am, but because of some really strong wind from the previous night, we were delayed until 10:30. We were glad we decided to do "self-assist" debarkation because that meant we got to get off 1 hr before everyone else. We got to the car and headed for Granbury to pick up Bo. He was one happy little dog. All in all, it was a long day of driving, but we made it home safely. Back to the real world!

Some news!

Are you ready for this?!? Meet the newest member of our family...
Blake and I are really excited to be welcoming this baby into our family. The big day is April 25 (or sometime around there). This picture was from our first sonagram which was a month ago, so, I'm sure our baby has changed a lot since then. I think he/she looks a lot like Blake though, don't you?
I'm starting to feel better and have a bit more energy these days, but I definitely still enjoy a nap. Our new couch is great for naps.
Anyway, check back for updates. I'm sure there will be a lot in the next few months!

new curtains.

We finally got our curtains for the bedroom today. I say we just got them, but they have actually been sitting in the resident's office of the apartment complex for 5 days. Thank you Fedex ground for leaving a note on our door letting us know. Blake did a great job of putting them up... Thanks, Blake! You are an expert curtain hanger by now.
I know... 2 posts in 1 day. I'm on a roll. Good night!

Just a concert

Here are some quick photos from a concert that we went to on friday night. It just so happened that Blake's favorite band, Project 86, was in the area. We had to go. Tyler, my brother, also decided to join us. Fun and lots of laughs were had by all. Especially when that kid decided it would be cool to stage dive at a concert that was NOT EVEN NEAR capacity and fell to the ground. I know that when I see a body flying directly at my face, I'm going to move, and apparently Blake and Tyler had the same idea. I hope he never does that stunt again.

another one...

One more picture to add to the others... our bedroom. bed made and all.

decorating efforts

Here are a few pictures of our living room... new furniture and all. Blake and I... well, really blake, has been working hard on it. It has only taken 3 or 4 tries to get the curtain rod right, but that's another story.




A few of bo, because he was being so cute and he hasn't made the blog in a while.

recent happenings... back in TX

It's been a while since my last post. Sorry! I spent a week and a half in NYC and worked like crazy like I was there. While there, I squeezed in a few visits with friends which was nice. NYC is so great. Here's a picture I took one morning at Rockefeller center. It was about 7:30 am, so there were not a lot of people there yet. Click on it to see it a little bigger.

Anyway, I flew back to Dallas on Wednesday. Thursday, I took a day to rest. Wow, I really needed that... more than you know. Friday, we had a new sofa delivered, went to a couple of stores to pick out some stuff for the apartment, and met up with some friends from college. Fun, busy day. That said, the living room is coming together in the new place. The next step is getting stuff hung up on the wall. We've been putting that off until we knew where everything would eventually settle. Once that is done, I'll be sure and share pictures. I think it is looking good though. Also, while I was gone, blake refinished our dining room table. He did great, so now we just have to get that inside and set up.
That's about all for now, but check back soon for more stuff that is going on with us. I'm sure you won't want to miss that.

little miss muffet...

I don't remember the rest of that nursery rhyme, but I did see this outside of our apartment yesterday. Scary! What do I do? Grab my camera and take a picture of it, of course. Anyone know what kind of spider it is?

foooooore

I just thought I'd share some photos from our minigolf fun today. It is a beautiful sunny day that topped out at around 70 degrees (love that), so we decided it might be fun to check out the golf place that we have driven by a few times and always said it looked like fun. It was as fun as it has looked all summer.
Take a look...

How cute is this place?
Blake actually got a hole in one on this one. He hit the ball in the big red hole.
I didn't do so great on this hole. It was fun anyway.


Check out Blake's orange ball flying down the path toward the fort.
We went all the way to china. Blake was prepared.
The final score. It was a close one, but I squeeked out the win. Blake: 61, Whitney 58, but that is just because blake struggled with the last hole, and I just so happened to get it in on the first try.
Blake's reaction after tallying the scores.

had to share

This is a photo I posted yesterday in color, but I did a bit of work to it tonight and made it black and white. I thought I'd repost it. I think I like it better this way. What do you think? (for reference see post below.) 

look what I did!

Remember those flowers I planted? If not, here's a reminder. That was on June 29th. Check them out today! From zero blooms, to 5 and almost 4 more on top of that! Sweet. I love sunny California.

Is my thumb green?

Maybe... We'll see in a few weeks. We are the proud owners of some new flowers. I've never tried to grow flowers, but today that has changed. We started small... just one little flower basket on the patio. I'll keep you posted on how they make it. I think most plants around here do really well since the weather is so nice, so if I fail at this... it will be a sad day.I thought it turned out really pretty, so here's a picture.
We've also seen a few humming bird feeders around, so we decided to try our luck with that as well. It isn't as exciting as flowers, but here's a picture.

To my Mom...

Dear Mom, We are so glad you got to join us on our road trip and celebrate your birthday with us. I thought I'd share some of our pictures from your little "birthday trip" to San Francisco. We love you! - Whitney and Blake
For my Mom's birthday, we thought it might be fun to take a little drive to see the Golden Gate Bridge and Pier 39. This is a view of the bridge from across the bay.Alcatraz Island... I'd love to get to go out there one day... but we didn't have time.The seals at Pier 39.We had dinner at Bubba Gumps on the end of Pier 39. The view was awesome as we got to look out over the water, boats, and sunset. These first 2 photos were taken while we were waiting to get seated. Those are some NIIIICE shoes! I wish I could have gotten a pair. haha.Blake consulting Zoltar, the fortune teller.Thanks again mom for coming with us, and we hope you had a really
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

An Update from the Road... (with pictures this time!)

Some pictures from the road...
The Thing!?!? Blake and I already had the opportunity to see "The Thing" when we were moving to Arizona a few years ago. It was such a memorable experience that we decided to take my mom as we drove through there on our way to California. The billboards for "the thing" start hundreds of miles before you actually reach "the thing", so we got her all excited about seeing "it". Here she is with "The Thing". I won't tell you what is in the box, nor will I show you the picture I took of it. I'd not want to ruin it in case you are driving down I10 through Arizona.

I took the following photos as we drove through California on the 101 and highway 1. They were just taken from the car going 70mph, so if you look carefully, you might see reflections from the car window. I thought it was just too beautiful to pass up.

The ocean near San Simeon where we are staying tonight. Don't let the sun fool you. It is actually around 50 degrees and CRAZY windy.

A little mexican food place where we ate dinner.

Something interesting I saw.

Here's a quick something interesting I saw last night. It was just outside of my parent's back door. When I first spotted it, the web was just a basic structure, and as I watched, it built the whole web.
It was pretty interesting to see how quickly it worked. In fact, both of my parents and I stood at the door and watched it build almost the entire web. We were mesmerized! I ran and got a camera to see what I could capture, but the light wasn't great, and the spider was moving
really quick. This is just so you can see what I saw.

some cute photos

Here are some cute photos from this week. The first 2 are of Chewy, Blake's family dog. He's such a cute teddy bear, and he LOVES Blake... but who doesn't?

These 2 pictures I took today from my parents back patio. The first is a big frog (Correction: So, maybe it is a toad... my mom just said toad's don't have webbed feet. She's so smart.) that let me get 1 ft. away from him without even moving, and the other is of a female cardinal drinking from the bird bath.

Spring... still my favorite

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE spring?  Here are some more photos from yesterday and today's trips to the park.  As usual, I took my camera along, and there was no shortage of beautiful weather, brightly colored flowers and of course ... crazy people.  Go to my website for the full gallery and short tidbits about the crazy people. Here's the link www.blakeandwhitney.com/springflowers2.

The tulips are finally blooming!  I'll have to go back again after some more go into full bloom.

Isn't this the most beautiful flowering tree ever?  I LOVE IT!
Check out the park.  The trees are starting to get green... as well as the grass.

lions and tigers and bears.... oh my!

Blake and I went to the bronx zoo today!  It was the most fun ever!  It was a long day of walking, but I loved every second of it.  As you can tell from the photos below, the primates were my favorite animals.  They have so much expression.  It is just amazing!  If you are ever in NYC.  Take the trip out to the Bronx.  It is worth it for sure!  I only put a fraction of the photos on the blog, but I put a lot more on my site (as usual).  www.blakeandwhitney.com/bronxzoo.  Enjoy!

Spring is here... well, getting close.

Bo was begging to go down to the park today, so I decided that it might be fun to take my camera along. Spring is getting close. We didn't see many tulips, but lots of the yellow and white flowers (what are they called, mom?)

Spring is my favorite time here in NYC, and I always enjoy getting out to take pictures of flowers, so it was a fun day! Oh yeah, I also took Bo to the dog park as he requested.

I took a lot more pictures, so if you want to see them, go to... www.blakeandwhitney.com/springflowers

The tulips... just about ready to bloom!

A fun mini trip with some old folks.

Blake and I wanted to get away from the city for a little relaxing. We've never been to Atlantic City, so we decided that it would be a fun getaway. We just got back this afternoon, but here are some pics from the trip. If you are hungry to see more, check out www.blakeandwhitney.com/atlanticcity.

Here are a few details from the trip... We took the Greyhound bus from NYC 2.5 hours and arrived at our hotel, the Trump Plaza. The bus tickets cost a whole $33 each (round trip, of course.) The great part is the "coupon" they gave to us when we arrived... $20 to cash out once we got a "Trump One" card. If you've never been there, you no longer use coins (which I was a little sad that I never got the chance to gamble and hear the cling, cling as my huge winnings came from the machine, yeah right.)

We both got our card and proceeded to the machine to redeem our voucher. I thought it was going to put the $20 on my new shiny card. Imagine my surprise when a $20 bill pops out of the machine. Wow! Now, my bus trip only cost $13! Crazy!

We got checked into the hotel and headed for our room. This is when we both started to feel a little naive about this whole Atlantic City thing. I had the room key and we tried to remember the directions the lady at the desk gave us on how to get to our room. It was something like, "Follow this hall around to the escalator. Take the escalator up to the elevator and to the 18th floor." We both thought, no problem. Well, we found the escalator, and was looking for the elevator when the security guard stopped us to ask us where we were going.

He just wanted to see our room key to know we were supposed to be there, so I showed it to him and he pointed us to this glass door. I pulled on the door, and it was locked. He said, "Put your room key in!" Apparently, after we showed it to him, we were supposed to put it in this slot to unlock the door. Why both? I don't know... union job, I guess. After I finally figured out how to get through the door, we came to the elevators. I pushed the up button and got in.... pressed 18... and the light wouldn't stay on. Luckily another security guard was headed up in the elevator as well, and he barked... "Put your room key in!" What? Yes... I had to use the room key again to get up to my room. Talk about security! We got settled in and decided to head back down to the casino to try our hand at gambling. It took a little time and 2 college grads who happen to work with technology daily to figure out how they work. All the while, little old ladies and men are gambling away... some with 2 machines at a time.

Blake started out at the 5¢ slot machines and immediately won $10! What? How does that happen? I told him that he should stop now while he is ahead, but that wouldn't have been any fun. He played there for a little bit and we found some 1¢ machines. This is just in my price range. I didn't really win and he eventually lost his winnings as well, but overall for the weekend, we were only down $15... We didn't even gamble all of the $40 greyhound gave us. I'm sure they love people like us there. Ha ha.

Later on that night, we heard that there was a free Blackjack tournament. We were SO in for that (even though neither of us really knows how to play.) They gave everyone $10,000 in chips and we had 12 hands to make as much as possible. Blake was out in a few hands, but I lasted to the 10th hand before losing all of my $$$, and that is just because I bet $5500 on the last hand. Needless to say, we didn't even get close to winning, but it was a lot of fun!

This is where we stayed...

Just a look down the beach from the mall...

Us on the beach... it was pretty cold!

The water fountain in the mall. It was really cool and did a water/light/music show every hour.

A video I took with my little camera...

A photograph of the boardwalk...

We went to a fondue restaurant! Yum!

Staying Alive

So we were walking home from church the other day, and saw this couple who looked to be in their 70's holding hands and walking together.  Normally this wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, but these two had appeared as though their better days were in the 50's.  They were both wearing their high school letter jackets, collars popped, and sunglasses.  He was even wearing Aviators.  But the best part, was that in the opposite hands, they each had cigarettes.  It was a little jarring at first, but then once the initial shock wore off, I hurried up behind them to take a picture on my phone.

What a cutie!

This weekend, we had the pleasure of getting to see Will, Christian, and Baby William. We had a ton of fun! In the half-hour before they left we decided to snap a few photos of William, so I thought I would share the results... If you want to see more, check out this link... www.sawyerphotostudio.com/williamhumble

Fun Times

Blake and I went out and had some fun tonight!  We went down and saw our friend, Tom LoSchiavo, play at Arlene's Grocery.  It was great!  Here are a few photos from the concert, or go to http://www.live.sawyerphotostudio.com/tom to see more that I took!

to my brother...

Happy Birthday, Tyler! 

We hope your day is great and we love you!

a little late, but just as beautiful.

This is a little past due, but I was just cleaning off my memory card and found these photos from Valentine's Day.  These are the beautiful roses blake gave me!  I LOVE flowers and couldn't resist sharing them online!  

Thank you Blake!

Finished Project

I know you have all been waiting on the edge of your seat for me to finish retouching my old family photo. Well, good news, I finally finished! Here's a reminder of the original photograph... (Click on it if you want to see a larger version.)
And.... Here's the finished! Looks better, right?

Bo and his friends at the park

Today, Blake and I took Bo to the park down at the end of the block
because he was itching to get outside and see some spring. Well, it
isn't really spring here yet, but it has warmed up quite a bit. You
have to understand... Bo HATED the dog park when we first moved here.
He is a lot smaller than the other dogs (even in the "small dog"
park.) He is doing much better with it now, and today he even had
some fun! This is the first time he didn't spend more time in my lap
than he did running around. Such a cutie. Here are some photos from
the outing.

Notice... none of Bo's 4 legs are touching the ground in the next one.

Family Photo Project

My mom found this old family photo, and when I say old... I mean OLD... It was taken in 1899. My Great-Great Grandmother, is the baby in her mom's lap. We all called her Mammo Annie (pronounced Mammaw), and when I was little I remember going to her house and playing in her garden. How much fun! Anyway, I'm working on retouching the image to take out the tears and little white and brown dots. There are a lot more than you can see from this little photo. I'll post the complete image when I finish. The other 2 images are of the mom and dad from the first photo (that would make them my great-great-great grandparents). I retouched and colorized them a little while ago.

A Christmas Picture, or, What really happens in a city that never sleeps

As you may or may not know. We live in New York, NY, and have for a few years. Last year we decided it would be fun to go to see the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center. Needless to say, it was not. This year we thought, wouldn't it be great to get a good picture of the tree and send it as our Christmas card? A simple premise to a not so simple task.

On a normal day, there are approximately 1,000 people in Rockefeller Center at midday. At Christmas, after the tree is lit, there are approximately 10,000 people in the same space at the same time during the prime tree viewing hours. There are many people every minute trying to take a good picture of the same tree from the same point, many of them using their camera/phone. It quickly becomes evident that getting a good shot is not going to happen, no matter how much the picture is edited in Photoshop, photoshopped if you will. So, I says to Whitney, I says, "Why don't we go at 11:30 or midnight and take some pictures when there are less people around and the ice rink is closing."

"Great idea, Blake," Whitney said enthusiastically. "You are the greatest and smartest man in the world and I am honored to call you my husband."

So, on a Friday night much like any other Friday, we set out around 12:30 to go out and picture the elusive crowdless tree. We approach the OPP, optimal photo-taking position, and then notice, the lights are off. While Whitney begins to settle into a picture taking frenzy of a darkened tree, I locate a general security officer. I inquire of this said security officer, who we will call Phil as kind of a filler for the story, as to when the lights, which I might point out are solar powered, will return to their light shining natural state. Phil replies that they will be turning back on around 4AM. At this point we have approximately 2.5 hours to light-resuming, picture-taking, Christmas-card-making, Christmas tree OPP time.


It should also be mentioned at this point that Saks 5th Ave is across the street from the OPP. The windows this year are snowmen. It looks cute, but don't let the brightly colored snowmen fool you. There is a 30 second loop that plays OVER and OVER... Just as cheery each time. I have tried to erase this part of the journey from my memory.

As I work a few blocks away, and since if we were to go home we would just be coming back in less than an hour later, we decided to go to the Apple Store, and see some of my co-workers and buy some Christmas gifts. We finish this in record timing, because it's apparently not so busy at the Apple store from 2 to 3AM when they are cleaning the floor. Since there is still some time, we grab some coffee to warm up and head back out. Did I mention that in addition to it being ridiculously late, it is also 25 with a wind-chill in the near single digits?


Just a photo taken along the way.

The Apple store...

Arriving back at the OPP at 4:06AM, we find the tree to still be turned off. Looking around, we evenually locate Ferdinand, who has replaced Phil, and again inquire as to when the tree light resumption is. He says that Phil is new, and that the tree doesn't turn on until 5 or 5:30. As we have already waited 2 hours, we could wait another 1 hour to achieve what few in their life time will see in person. Many people wait for years to experience something that no one else has. Some decide that skiing a rare slope, or mountain climbing to the top of a tall mountain or riding in a barrel over Niagara Falls, or attempting to swim to the bottom of the ocean to escape a group of angry pirates intent on stealing a priceless pearl is what they will do that few have done before. For this picture, waiting for an hour did not seem like that much of a sacrifice in comparison.

We noticed a group of people rounding the corner with lawn chairs and decided we would follow them, you never know when you might find an impromptu barbecue party, and since it was late and we had not planned on being out this long, we were both getting hungry. Instead of food though, these people were waiting in line at the Nintendo store in hopes of buying a wii. We saw someone Whitney knew, and we talked to them for a while. Finally, the tree became illuminated, and optimal results were achieved. We had it! The Great White Whale, or Titanic, or Tickle Me Elmo of the 21st Century. A unobscured picture of a giant Christmas tree.

We have passed this on to you in hope that you enjoy this Christmas season by knowing that you can now see this same tree without having actually having been in front of it in the cold at 5AM. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a much better night.

As an aside, on the way home, if you will recall, we had been out much later than expected and had grown quite hungry. We decided we would eat breakfast at a diner before going home and getting some sleep. We decided we would eat at the one nearest our home, since it was the one that was cosmetically cleanest and had a public restroom. Passing by the 3 that were on our way home, we arrived at the diner of our choice, only to find it closed. Like Jonah, having waited inside the whale, or David Blaine doing something random in plexiglass, we decided we would rather go home, rather than wait the additional 15 minutes for the diner to open. Kind of ironic if you think about it.

Fall Photos

Here are some more photos from our fall trip. I only uploaded two, but click this link to see the others.

Mmmmmm blindside

So, I went to see blindside tonight. I love concerts, and I've decided that I dont want to grow up because I like being in a sweaty mass of bodies... Wait, scratch that... I dont like sweat, I just like music.
Anyway, I had fun, but now I must go home and get clean so I can get up for work tomorrow morning. Fun stuff.

Today's view

Here's the view from where I am today... The new york times. Just below is 8th ave and Chevys (yum I love Chevys). This is a really cool building. The shades go up and down automatically, and the a/c comes from the carpet. It is pretty sweet. Anyway, more to come later. Peace.

In Leiu of a sleeper sofa

So, we checked into a Best Western in Concord, NH for the night last night and found out the hard way that the sleeper sofa was more broken than the New Orlean Saints spirits. After a pleasant conversation with the manager which ended in us saying that we would never recommend this place to anyone ever, we went downstairs to get the 2 rollawsys they had for us. They wouldn't even bring them up for us! Using all my remaining Genius skills at the end of a long day of driving, we took the matress off a bed and the sofa and slept mostly uncomfortably. More from the road later.

Blake's first lobster

So, we are in NH/Maine, Blake decides to try a lobster for the first time. He pulled apart and was not pleased with the sight of green stuff that spilled out. I have never laughed so hard in all my life. More pictures are to follow, this is just the one from the cellphone.

Blake found a wendy's!

Need I say more?

Bo went hunting for a duck.

.... And got one. Man, does he love his toys.